


Depth Perception

by codenamecynic



Series: It came from the tumblr-verse [30]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types
Genre: Complicated Relationships, Conversations, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-11-23
Packaged: 2019-08-28 06:34:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16718171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/codenamecynic/pseuds/codenamecynic
Summary: Zaeed asks Shepard some important questions about the marine who met them on Horizon.





	Depth Perception

"So," Zaeed asks, hours later, breaking the sacred silence in the armory where he and Shepard sit, cleaning their guns in companionable silence long after Cerberus Mook Number Two disappears off to his bunk. "That's the guy."

He knows it is, he doesn't really have to ask. He recognizes the kind of deep thoughtfulness she's been wrapped up in ever since they shuttled off the paralytic post-apocalypse of Horizon, the kind tinged all through with regret - and even if he didn't, the terseness of her former shipmate filled in all the important gaps.

"Shepard is a private person," the Turian said, mandibles pulled in tight enough to make the scar tissue on his plates crack. "If you want answers, ask her."

So here he is. Asking.

Not that it matters, not really, but he'd been young once himself. He'd loved. Lost. Decades; an eye. Hell, he'd even lost half his liver once, and not the fun way. Amazing what these ship doctors can whip up in a pinch, but he doesn't think even that mad one-horned Salarian can regrow a heart.

Anyway, if he wants to pretend it's all about the job and not about the sentimentality that seems to be pushing up like daisies on a grave in his dotage, there is still the mission. The SR2 hadn't hauled that kind of ass across the galaxy for the job alone - he knows it, Anderson knows it, and he bet Shepard knows it too. She might be young, but she isn't fucking stupid.

There's only a slight hitch, a momentary stutter of metal on metal. For someone as eerily calm with a gun in her hands as Shepard, it says a lot.

"Yeah."

He chooses his words carefully. "This Alenko kid. He do you wrong?"

Okay, maybe not so carefully. Shepard looks over at him, the uneven smile on her lips pulling at the scar that cuts across her jaw line. The cybernetic orange glow intensifies, yawning open like a crack in the ground that plummets straight into the center of the earth.

"Why Pops, gonna show him your gun collection?"

That's just rude. Children should respect their elders, even the ones with questionable depth perception. Besides, Zaeed's never had children.

At least none he knows about.

Shit - that's not the point.

"Don't get smart," he says, just like an old man would. It's annoying that she clearly finds that funny, but not so annoying that he stops what he's doing. He's finally gotten comfortable on this hard-as-fuck metal seat, and-

Ah, to hell with it. "Don't let it fuck you up."

He can see Shepard looking at him out of the corner of his good eye, and it's easier not to look back. There's something he sees in her face sometimes, something like staring out into the black so hard you forget there's cubic feet of polymer and glass between you and the void, and Zaeed isn't great with emotions that aren't on the far end of the spectrum with vengeance and murderous rage.

He started this conversation, though, so he goes ahead and says it. Somebody ought to. "What needs to be done - you're doing it. If he wants to doubt you- well. You deserve better."

"It's okay," she says, steady enough that it surprises him. Like she's telling the truth. "It just means we're still in love."


End file.
